Seriously! Avoid becoming a car salesman. Stay away from the idea like a plague. When I first started in 2012, I was excited. I thought such a job would embolden me, and give fresh start to becoming self-employed or an entrepreneur. The reality after four months, couldn’t be further from the truth. In conclusion, I believe big car dealers are nothing more than slime-ball marketers, and snake-oil salesmen. It murdered my ambitions and soul and caused me to lose faith in humanity. What an epic FAIL! This blog went off-line, and sat in limbo for a while.

I went back to school at Southern Utah University and now I’m starting out fresh again. It’s 2014, and I’ve been able to build my network to over 100,000 people on social networks like Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. I’m first and foremost a photographer but not much of a blogger. I want to change that and write daily. I don’t want to give my thunder to the social networks and I sure as hell don’t want them to OWNING ME. My content belongs on an independent site.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; They are all good for professional marketing and building a brand but they are also just tools. You should not rely on them to be a content management system. Social networks aren’t in the charity biz, and they will OWN YOU eventually if you don’t break away and do your own thang.

Take my advice and put ALL OF YOUR STUFF on an independent site of your own. Utilize the social networks for your marketing. Don’t be addicted to them. Learn how to use them to your advantage in marketing. I’m doing this as I move along, and I’m learning.

In closing, the photo above was shot with an old iPhone 4s at the Stephen Wade Honda Dealer in St. George, Utah, in 2012. These poor saps (salesmen) are shooting the breeze right before closing time. It’s a terrible memory. We dubbed Stephen Wade’s dealership, Thieving Wade, not because of what happened to unsuspecting customers but what happened to the car salesmen, themselves; We literally had to dispute our paychecks with the human resources department every pay-period over earned commissions, etc! To every desert rat out there, stay away from car sales.

A month ago when I went job hunting my goals were different than most. My vision has evolved since June about life. I want to stay in Southern Utah because it’s home for now. It’s where I feel comfortable. When I started my job search, I was looking for a niche, and a market that has a lot of freedom, and potential to make somewhat of a lucrative profit. I’ve done the research and in rural Southern Utah, selling cars is the way to go if you’re needing money to invest in larger business. Otherwise you’re limited to sheep herding and bailing hay. It’s the truth. So I hope to invest in several micro businesses as my career advances as a car salesman. I know this sounds like a big undertaking, but it’s also a creative, artistic adventure. I’m very excited about what I am doing.

I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate skills learned from selling and marketing new cars. I’ve been in the training for almost three weeks now and will be hitting the sales floor. Brand new Hondas will be my specialty. Not only that, I’m going to be working at the largest new car dealership in my part of the state with an opportunity to promote over ten different automobile brands. It’s not an easy job, but it’s worth the investment to learn and grow and become my own boss. Cars are a commodity, everyone needs them and I’m pretty confident that I’ll do good.

I’m taking notes all across the board and finding ways at being more productive, and doing a lot more in a much shorter amount of time. I’m considering a few Network Marketing MLMs to build a long term income yet this is going to be one small niche in a much grander vision. MLMs get a lot of bad rap, but the beauty is there if you do the work. I’m seeing these as supplimental income to generate while engaged in bigger goals. All of it seems enticing for the sake of adventure and testing different things, schemes, strategies. You gotta try everything at least once, right? If I can outsource some of my efforts, and work while setting up all these little business adventures and divy out bits and pieces of risk, I can see which systems are succeeding or failing.

I’m creating my own brand of creativity and experimentation in this process while building up my experience level. As I’m moving along, I’m figuring out the nuts and bolts. I’m a young buck, good looking and full of life. It’s all in there. The biggest challenge to being a car salesman is the lack of mobility and portability. It’s teaching me structure and how to conform and be less of a footloose vagabond. Being the desert rat isn’t easy in a suit and tie. Although I’ve got an apartment on a mesa overlooking the Arizona Strip in Saint George, Utah. I can can wake up to a wasteland sunrise every morning, and know the warmth.

My goals in life are big and it’s worth the endurance and sacrifice. I want to diversify my portfolio, work experience and education. My main adventures have been the photographer, tour guide, wilderness guide, adventurer, public entertainer, prospector, etc. I’m a jack-of-trades and I’ve been making good money over the years trying out different experiences, from teaching people about the land to selling rocks and gems to rock shops, doing Grand Circle Tours, living in the Grand Canyon, and traveling all over the Southwest – photographing the land. Yeah! Who would like to try these jobs!? I’ve lived my own version of a shortened work week out of the office and on the road or in a canyon, getting paid to do what I LOVE! One thing I’m going to like about selling cars is being my own boss because I’m self-driven. They give us the opportunity to take the initiative without being micro-managed and I’m going to discipline myself to master this structured lifestyle at least for now!